Karina Longworth's Contact Sheet Book a Must for Film Fans

If you're a film fan, then the name Karina Longworth is likely very familiar to you. She produces and hosts the unique podcast entitled "You Must Remember This," which regularly delves into the Golden Age of Hollywood and tells stories, some of which aren't particularly well-known, about its famous denizens--actors, actresses, directors, screenwriters, and others.

In 2014, Longworth published a very interesting book entitled Hollywood Frame By Frame, which is a collection of contact sheets and photos shot by set photographers. Contact sheets, in the days before digital photography, were created by printing strips of film onto photographic paper. These contact sheets gave publicists, art directors and others at-a-glance images that could be used in marketing and publicizing films. Every set had--and has--a still photographer around to capture key moments during shooting.

In Longworth's book, she focuses on films made between 1951 and 1997, and covers many of the classic films from that era, as separated into a few categories. By flipping through the book, the reader/viewer gets a time capsule of the making of those films as seen through the set photographers' lenses. What's kind of fun is that the sequences of photos capture some fun and funny moments between serious poses. It's sort of a backstage pass to the world of moviemaking, and in this case, some of the biggest blockbusters of the time.

The book is available as a downloadable ebook from Apple iBooks at only $3.99. But you can also get a traditional edition via Amazon.

Just go to https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Frame-Unseen-Contact-1951-1997/dp/1616892595/ref=asc_df_1616892595/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=316665678877&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14676371902271821733&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9052774&hvtargid=pla-491760528849&psc=1.

Damien Chazelle's pre-"La La Land" movie is the excellent, intense "Whiplash"

Damien Chazelle has been the toast of Hollywood over the past few months. The 32-year-old Rhode Island native wrote and directed a little film called "La La Land," which has received a slew of awards and has reportedly grossed nearly $370 million to date. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who previously teamed up in 2011's "Crazy Stupid Love," deliver a musical love letter to Hollywood in this film that everyone has either seen or can't wait to see.

Chapelle's previous film, 2014's "Whiplash," his second as a writer-director, was built around music as well, but the tone was markedly different. In that one, the supremely talented J. K. Simmons and Miles Teller star, respectively, as a jazz band teacher (Terence Fletcher) and drum student (Andrew Neiman) at Shaffer Academy, a Juilliard-like arts school in New York City. Fletcher is brash, demanding, profane, and abusive. Neiman is talented, earnest and determined not to let Fletcher destroy his ambition to be a jazz drummer.

Throughout the movie, teacher and student interact on a number of levels. We think we discover what made Fletcher so angry. Meanwhile, Neiman falls in love with a pretty girl but eventually believes that he needs to choose between love and music, dedicated to his art to the point that the two can't possibly co-exist, at least for him.

At the center of the story, though, is the game played by Fletcher and Neiman as the teacher continues to abuse the student and the student continues to exceed the expectations that have been placed on him. The last fifteen or so minutes of the movie provide a satisfying resolution to the story.

Chazelle's screenplay and direction would have you believe that he's been doing this for 20+ years. The story is well-paced and the conflicts and resolution are expertly handled.

I can't speak highly enough of Simmons' performance. An actor with an offscreen reputation for being one of the genuinely nice guys in the industry reverts in a way to the type of character he played back in the 1990s on HBO's prison drama "Oz." Bald with bulging biceps and dressed all in black, he embodies the villain archetype to its fullest potential. Teller a relative newcomer, brings innocence, intelligence and tenacity to his character. You root for him, want him to do well.

Paul Reiser's relatively minor role as Teller's working-class father, is a middle-aged everyman. And the musical score is powerful and perfectly complements the film.

After you've watched "La La Land," give "Whiplash" a view.

Watch the trailer.

A village movie theater shares the lead in 1988's wonderful Oscar winner, "Cinema Paradiso"

If you're a film lover, you can't help but be enthralled by "Cinema Paradiso," the film that was honored with an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988.

Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and featuring a lovely score by Ennio Morricone, who provided the music for all those great Sergio Leone-Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, the film tells the story of a boy named Salvatore growing in a tiny village in postwar Italy, the son of a war widow.

There's not much to do in Giancaldo, Sicily, but there is a movie house, so Salvatore begins spending lots of time there, developing a love for movies and befriending Alfredo the projectionist, who becomes his father figure. Alfredo eventually teaches Salvatore how to run the projector, a skill that will one day come in handy.

Over the course of the film, we follow Salvatore's journey from childhood to manhood and witness as he falls in love, acquires a small movie camera, joins the military, and experiences a series of life-changing events.

As Pixar's John Lasseter often says, it's all about the story, and "Cinema Paradiso" offers one that keeps the audience engaged. It's a charming film that presents the hero's journey in a quiet yet powerful manner.

Watch the trailer.